


Love Changes Everything

by RegallyWickedThirteen



Series: Soft Serquel [1]
Category: La casa de papel | Money Heist (TV)
Genre: F/M, Family Feels, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-08
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-10-12 19:29:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20569664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RegallyWickedThirteen/pseuds/RegallyWickedThirteen
Summary: A fic about Sergio’s childhood and a surprise birthday party.





	Love Changes Everything

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to all the love these fics have been getting it really means a lot and is part of the reason why I’m inspired to write more. 
> 
> This turned out to be more painful than I intended but it does have a happy ending and I think the feels and the discussion was needed.
> 
> Enjoy!

Sergio doesn’t talk about his childhood. It’s something which Raquel has come to accept. Everyone has moments, events in the past that they’d rather forget, or at least not revisit. 

He’s shared bits and pieces. One of the first times she realised she truly loved him was when he told her the apple cider story. It was the first time she’d seen him be truly vulnerable. It’s also the betrayal that had hurt the most when she’d first discovered his real identity. One detail that changed the entire story.

It was the first thing they argued, well she shouted at him and he listened, let her scream, in Palawan. She’d hated that she had shared so much. Told him about every scar. Told him every sorry tale and he’d lied.

///

“Raquel I told many lies and for that I will spend my life apologising. That morning, that morning I knew I loved you. I knew that whatever way our story I ended, however the heist ended, I needed you in my life. I didn’t want to lie. I wanted to tell you the truth. All of it. I couldn’t. I couldn’t put you in that position. I was selfish. I needed to tell you something. Something I had never told anyone before, so I told you the closest to the truth I could. The apple cider, that was a lie, but the story, the emotion, the wanting to be vulnerable with you, that was real.”

She knew that. She had always known that. Hearing him say it, it made it easier.

“I don’t talk about my childhood but I will, I will if you want me to”

Raquel shook her head. “No no I will never force you to share that with me, I trust you, I do, I just sometimes I don’t trust me. I don’t do relationships, they never end well, they get complicated and sooner or later it’s too much”

Sergio laughed and hugged her “We’ve gone past complicated. Neither of us would be standing here having this conversation if we didn’t think complicated was worth it, worth a chance at being happy. I love you. I trust you with my life. I can’t promise we won’t fight. I can’t promise things won’t get more complicated but I promise to be here for you.”

In that moment, she let herself feel. They turned toward the setting sun and looked across the ocean.

Complicated didn’t matter.

All that mattered was their future. Together.

///

She found him a week later, crying silently on the beach.

It was then that she had discovered that Berlin was his brother, and got another glimpse into his childhood.

He didn’t live with us not for a long time, he was the child of my fathers previous affair. He only came into my life after papa died and at first it was scary. I was a very weak boy, and my mind worked differently to everyone else's. I didn’t like changed and within a month I had seen my papa shot, my mother had slipped into a depression she never slipped out of, and this new boy had arrived. He was stronger, loud, a charmer. But after a while I realised we weren’t that different. We were both angry, both lost, both needed something to keep our minds occupied. That’s when I shared the plan- it was a pipeline dream at that stage, but just as other kids dreamed of becoming an astronaut or rediscovering dinosaurs we dreamed we would rob the royal mint of spain. As we grew up we drifted apart- Berlin could never stay still, he couldn’t settle, he loved hard and played harder. We kept in touch, followed each others heists. Then I decided to execute the plan, he agreed of course, despite his restlessness it was still his dream too. 

He did it for me. Even if he wasn’t always physically there from the age of 12 he was the one constant in my life. He accepted my differences. He didn’t tell me that any dream or heist was too big. 

He was brother. He was family. 

He got ill. The same illness mother had- in the end. Mother gave up. She had nothing to live for. He lived for the moment and didn’t care. He was passionate and aloof. He died for the plan. For me.” 

He needed a minute so Raquel just held him, rubbed small circles on his back, and let him know that she was there. 

“The heist was something you planned together, but don’t feel guilty for his death. Every single one of you knew the risk, knew that there was a chance of not getting out of there or getting arrested. That was his decision. He died doing something he enjoyed. He died the way he wanted to. It’s hard on you, but you have to respect his wishes.” 

He did. He knew that were roles reversed his brother would do the same, the gnawing feeling of guilt would never fully leave him.

/// 

Raquel and Tokyo would never be best friends. They were very different people. Tokyo was a timebomb, a restless ball of energy, a runner. Raquel was more calculated, like Sergio she liked a plan, relished control. So when Sergio announced that Tokyo was here, she had to confront her. If Tokyo was here it meant something had gone wrong. 

What followed was like something out of a boxing match, the two women circling each other, jabbing, antagonising the other. 

Sergio looked on almost helpless. 

The two women would never be friends but they had one thing in common- their love for The professor. 

That night, neither of them could sleep- nor would they for the next few weeks, months. 

Raquel would always support him but she needed one thing. 

“Promise me your doing this because you want to, not because you feel you owe Tokyo, Rio or your brother” 

“I promise” 

Neither of them quite believed it but they both chose to believe in the possibility of it being true. 

///

The moment the heist began it also began to unravel. 

This time there is more emotion involved. Everyone knows the price of the heist. They know that it’s possible. They also know that this isn’t easy. 

It’s the first time in two years that Sergio has a nightmare. He sees his father die. Except this time it isn’t his father. It’s Raquel. 

Raquel can always tell when something is upsetting him and without saying anything hugs him a little tighter. It’s enough to reassure him that she’s there. It doesn’t stop the sinking feeling that history is going to repeat itself. 

It’s a few days later when his nightmare becomes a reality. Except he doesn’t see it. He hears it. Somehow that's worse. He runs. Runs and runs. It’s not enough. He hears her voice and then he doesn’t. A gunshot. One single gunshot. 

He hears it over and over again. Stuck on repeat. It’s deafening in the silence of the forest. 

His father. Dead. Mother. Dead. Brother. Dead. His lover. Dead. All because of him. 

///

Somehow he makes it back to Palawan.

That’s when it truly hits him. 

His family with city names attempt to comfort him, but its little solace and they know that. They’ve all lost someone and they’ve all asked the same question he keeps asking himself: 

Was it worth it? 

They did this to prove the impossible, possible, to fight injustice, to challenge the system but nothing is more important than love. 

It’s another 2 weeks before Paula and Marivi return. It’s the moment he’s been dreading. They already know something is wrong. How can he tell them? 

In the end he is a coward, like he always has been, and just nods when Paula says: My momma died didn’t she. Her voice is almost void of emotion, but it’s written all over her face in the way her lip wobbles and her eyes are filled with tears. 

Marivi hugs him and he hates himself a little more then she should not be comforting him. “Your family too, you know that, and don’t give up on my girl, because she never gave up on you” 

He doesn’t know what that means or maybe it’s because he doesn’t want to know. He doesn’t believe in hope anymore. When Nairobi turns up on the island he braces himself for more bad news, knowing his heart can’t take it. 

“She’s not dead” 

He doesn’t have the strength to argue. His whole body has become weak. His hair wrangled. His face gaunt. 

“If she was dead we would all know about it.” 

He hated that it made sense. 

///

The moment that he got her back in his arms was the best of his life. 

They spend the night reassuring each other that they’re here. That this is real. 

///

Their marriage is a small, intimate affair, but it’s perfect. 

///

The birth of their first child brings back dreams he thought lost. 

People say that a child changes everything. 

It’s true, there’s something about the way a child looks at you, arms wide, a smile curving its way onto small lips, tiny hands reaching for you, that makes you realise that love changes everything. 

It also brings up fears and insecurities. 

He’s never been good at loving people. Emotion makes people irrational. Love opens your heart to hurt. Everyone he’s loved has died.

Raquel is scared too, Paula has faced too much in her young life already and sometimes she’s scared that she will be traumatised for the rest of her life. This baby will grow up cut off from part of the world. Then she looks around her- she’s on a desert island, surrounded by her family and nothing else matters. 

“She’s going to be ok our little Valentia, will grow up knowing love and that is the most important thing.” 

“She’ll grow up knowing pain too though” he barely whispers. 

“She would grow up knowing that if we were a ‘normal’ family in Spain. The world is burning up. There are children in America in concentration camps. Humans are cruel, that is something which unfortunately every child must realise, but our child will also realise that the line between good and evil is so often blurred, that love love is the most powerful thing. “ 

“It’s true papa” comes a small voice. Paula. 

“My other papa was mean. He hurt mom. I heard the shouting. I heard momma cry. My momma was sad for a long time until she met you. I have never heard my momma cry since she met you. You did something bad or at least what important people think is bad, but you made my momma happy, you made me happy. You’re a great dad” 

It’s what he needs to hear and he loves Raquel but hearing it from Paula is different, especially after everything that’s happened over the last year or two. 

From that moment on Sergio is a more hands on father or at least a more confident one. He sings to Valentia every night and every morning. He is the one that goes to her when she wakes up every other hour in the night. He rocks her on his shoulder as he walks along the moonlit sand. He pretends to understand her gurgles and makes ridiculous faces which really could be a meme. 

///

It’s approaching Valentina’s first birthday when Raquel realises she doesn’t know when Sergio’s is. 

She asks Paula, who doesn’t know, but will find out. 

Paula has many strengths, but subtlety is not one of them. 

“Why does Paula keep asking about my birthday?” he asks his wife one night. 

“She’s just curious probably” 

“Hmm” is his non committal reply. 

He’s distracted from further questions by the way she kisses him. 

///

He doesn’t celebrate his birthday, hasn’t in a long time. He doesn’t like the fuss. 

When the gang turn up for Jelly and Ice Cream and pin the tail on the donkey for the childrens party he never had as a kid he finds himself overcome with joy. 

One question remains: “How did you know”

Raquel smiles- “I used to be an inspector remember, I have my ways”

“You know what other game you missed out” on Raquel smirks. 

He shakes his head. 

“7 minutes in heaven” 

There’s no way he’s going to last 7 minutes but he follows her to the bedroom anyway. 

**Author's Note:**

> Once again thank you to all those who read, hit the kudos button and comment it makes writing a lot easier! 
> 
> If you have any prompts for serquel you would like me to write feel free to comment on here or alternatively dm me over on twitter @wickedthirteen


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